Go ahead and give the September Heisman to Michigan freshman RB Blake Corum, who continues to show off his skills to the world of college football each Saturday.
During the No. 25-ranked Wolverines’ 63-10 victory over Northern Illinois, the elusive speedster eclipsed 100 yards for the third straight week; he’s scored at least 3 rushing touchdowns in each of the past 2 games and gouged the Huskies for 125 yards, including a long of 51 yards.
Corum is on fire.
Entering Saturday, he was the No. 8 rusher in college football and the leader in all-purpose yards.
Michigan is rolling, with a lot of credit due to Corum.
The Wolverines are COOKING today 🔥
Blake Corum makes it a 42-3 Michigan lead 🏃♂️
(via @CFBONFOX)pic.twitter.com/smj51jygQU
— SI College Football (@si_ncaafb) September 18, 2021
While there is no official September Heisman — and it’s obviously said tongue-in-cheek this time of year — Corum has to at least be on the voters’ radar. If he maintains this pace, or anything close to it, he’ll certainly be in the real Heisman discussion come November.
Against Western Michigan in Week 1, Corum rushed for 111 yards and had a 14-yard reception to go along with a 79-yard kick return. In Week 2 vs. Washington, he had 171 rushing yards, 3 TDs and 2 kick returns for 49 yards (long of 25).
Whether he’s returning, running or catching the ball, Corum commands attention. Yes, it’s only Week 3 and Michigan has yet to play a conference opponent, but Corum deserves all the attention that he’s receiving from the media and spectators. Not many players have the ability to impact the game on multiple levels.
Corum can do it all for the Wolverines, who continue to impress with their ground game on a weekly basis.
Overall, the win gets an A+++ (ode to Jim Harbaugh’s highest grade). A grade that high is warranted anytime a team puts up mega-yards and tons of points. Michigan played a near-perfect game on both sides of the ball. Yes, there were a few miscues in the form of penalties late in the first half, and there was that late TD throw by Rocky Lombardi in the fourth quarter — but those are about the only blemishes on Saturday’s romping of the Huskies.
Offense: A
Cade McNamara with an 87 yard SEND to Cornelius Johnson for a 5th Michigan TD 😱 pic.twitter.com/ysC07nddFH
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 18, 2021
Michigan set a new season-high in total yards vs. NIU, racking up 606. In Week 1, UM put up 550 yards against WMU and in Week 2 it put up 387 vs. Washington.
Quarterback play was on-point, and the 2 top signal-callers saw significant action Saturday. Cade McNamara, the starter, played the first half, completing 8 of 11 passes for 191 yards, including an 87-yard touchdown pass to Cornelius Johnson — finally, the deep-ball TD that Michigan fans have yearned to see all year.
McNamara also added a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter, just for the sake of balance.
JJ McCarthy, the star of Michigan’s vaunted 2021 recruiting class, started the second half and didn’t hesitate to start slinging the ball around. The true freshman completed an 18-yard pass to Johnson and followed with a 12-yard completion to Roman Wilson, another one of Michigan’s speed demons.
The ground game has flourished for 3 weeks and shows no signs of slowing down. On top of Corum’s hot streak, Hassan Haskins has added valuable carries for the Wolverines. Haskins finished the day with 9 carries for 56 yards, including 1- and 4-yard rushing TDs.
Haskins’ 1-yarder in the first quarter was pretty much the solidifier for Michigan, which went up 21-3 at that point and never, ever looked back.
Michigan was 6-for-6 in the red zone and scored TDs on its first 9 drives.
Note: UM’s 8 rushing TDs were one short of the school record.
Defense: A-
Entering Saturday, Michigan’s defense had given up more than 300 yards to Western Michigan and Washington. Against NIU, it was a different story, as the Huskies failed to threaten after their first couple of drives. NIU QB Rocky Lombardi had a decent start, breaking off a 16-yard sneak and a 15-yard completion. RB Harrison Waylee even had a few bursts, most notably a 10-yard gain in the first quarter.
NIU finished with 208 total yards, 46 through the air — season-lows surrendered by Michigan.
Due to inconsistent play, the Wolverines’ secondary has been a focal point of discussion for the past couple of seasons. Vincent Gray, a CB, has been criticized more than once this season but he played his best game of 2021 on Saturday, helping to save a few big passing gains — and his teammates’ rear-ends — with timely tackles deep in the backfield.
Interceptions have been few and far between for Michigan, which hadn’t had a pick since Week 4 of 2020 vs. Wisconsin (UM had 2 that day). Gemon Green changed all of that vs. NIU, snagging a pass off a deflection and taking it 27 yards to the NIU 3-yard line — that play set up Edwards’ 4-yard rushing TD and pushed UM to a 56-3 lead in the third quarter.
AJ Henning: AJ Gets an A
Nice run by AJ Henning#Michigan #NorthernIllinois
— Sideline CFB (@SidelineCFB) September 18, 2021
The sophomore WR is one of the fastest players on Harbaugh’s roster, and he showed off his wheels against NIU. In the first half, he had a 25-yard punt return and a 26-yard run off a reverse. Early in the third quarter, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound speed merchant added a 32-yard punt return, further padding his stats and drawing attention to his big-play ability.
Go ahead and slap an “A” on the grade card for special teams, too — mostly because of Henning’s exploits on returns.
Through 3 weeks, the Wolverines have looked pretty sharp. Football games are an hour of actual clock time, but they have found ways to win them in 15-30 minutes through the first 3 games of the season.
Follow me on Twitter @AdamBiggers81. I regularly tweet about streaks and other interesting stats that I don’t always include in articles — but I usually find a way to get them into the piece if possible.
